The outdoor tennis courts near the Men’s Recreation in Al Dhannah were not built for pickleball. Every evening, players unroll duct tape to mark the smaller court lines, haul out portable nets, play until midnight, then pack everything up and carry it home — only to set it all up again the next night. On Thursday, August 6, 2026, that improvised setup hosted something bigger: the Al Dhannah Pickleball Club’s First Fun Games Tournament, an evening of matches that pulled in families from across the Western Region.
Play ran from 7:00 PM until nearly midnight, spanning four divisions — Fathers, Mothers, Youth, and Kids — under a summer sky. Around 15 families and 70 players took part, with the total crowd topping 100 once spectators and supporters were counted. The bracket format let parents, teenagers, and young children each compete at their own level, and organizers framed the night less as a contest than as a gathering.
The club is the work of Elyn Sagun, who heads and founded it. She traces its origins to two couples — her husband, along with Anthony Tayab and his wife Rose Tayab — all longtime tennis players who started hitting together and inviting friends to join. On June 4, 2026, Sagun created a WhatsApp group with a handful of members and began administering it and the club’s wider operations. In roughly two months, membership has climbed to nearly 90 people. The roster is no longer only Filipino: Omani, Thai, and Indian players have joined, and Arab residents drop in to play as well.
“I am passionate in organizing events,” Sagun said, explaining what drove her to build the club. She described being drawn to the way the sport gathers whole families in one place, turning an evening of matches into a shared family activity.
Winners were crowned across seven categories. In the Kids division, Meera Dayao and Drei Abaco took the title. The Youth crown went to Samantha Ysabelle Abaco and Jad Dayao. Among the adults, Wit Putri and Rusgabriel Juanico won Beginner Men, while Orlan Leal and Anthony Tayab claimed Intermediate Men. Cha Montanez and Lorda Dayao topped Beginner Women, and Rubyjane Villareyes and Annjelica Benaventura won Intermediate Women.
Champions received medals and prizes, though no trophies, all covered by sponsors rather than the club itself. Ruwais Glamtique supplied the jerseys, Syduction provided prizes, and a personal sponsor named Ali covered the medals. The de Castro Family donated tumblers, and the Villareyes Family sponsored the kids’ prizes. Portable pickleball nets came from Urban Trends, Asian Budget Meal, Syduction, Thai Oasis, Middle Class / LWL / Arak, and Sand Castle Studio. Training baskets were donated by a personal sponsor named Bader and by Switch, while the Tayab and Sagun families contributed a pickleball picker. The training and tournament balls are shared club property, funded by each family chipping in AED 20 toward the club’s stock.
The club plays nightly, from 7:00 PM to midnight, on the outdoor tennis courts near the Men’s Recreation. Sessions are free, but the venue remains a borrowed one — a tennis court adapted each night with tape and portable nets, with no permanent pickleball facility to call its own. Some members also play in the mornings. Sagun said the club is seeking a sponsor and hopes the ADNOC community will provide a proper court to match the sport’s growth.
Looking ahead, Sagun is in discussions with Breakpoint Tennis Club – UAE to organize an indoor dual-meet tournament in September. She is also planning a slate of future events, including a couples’ tournament, winter tournament scheduling, and a standing plan to run a tournament every quarter.
